WCI World Container Freight Rate Index Drops to Record Low

The slump in world trade and falling fuel prices have driven box ship rates to record lows. 

Drewy Maritime Research Thursday announced that the World Container Index (WCI) has dropped to its lowest reading ever, at just $701 per 40-foot container.

This was the lowest reading since the WCI started tracking weekly transatlantic, transpacific and Asia-Europe rates in June 2011.

Drewry also noted that index rate assessments for the Shanghai-Rotterdam and the Shanghai-Genoa routes fell to all-time lows of $354 and $341 per 40-foot box respectively, while the latest Shanghai-Los Angeles rate of $878 per 40-foot container was said to be "marginally higher" than the record low for that route.

"The World Container Index's composite index is now 60% lower than the average of the past five years and has decreased by 62% in the past year," said Richard Heath, director of WCI.

"Rate reductions are spreading across all routes, as the shipping market continues to soften. This is good news for shippers' cost budgets, as the latest average index value of $701 per 40 ft represents an expense of less than ten cents per km and makes products competitive even in remote markets," said Philip Damas, director, Drewry, which jointly owns the WCI with Cleartrade Exchange. 

The World Container Index is a weekly container pricing index that is managed independent of carriers and government authorities.

The index is a composite of prices on eleven global East-West routes connecting Asia, Europe and the US.

In January of 2016 Ship & Bunker reported that the Drewry Benchmarking Club Contract Rate Index showed that freight rates were falling along with oil prices.